Esters of benzoic acid which are substituted on the aromatic ring by 1,1-dihydroperfluoroalkoxy substituents and exhibit anesthetic activity are described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,655,728. Amides of benzoic acid which are substituted on the aromatic ring by 1,1-dihydroperfluoroalkoxy substituents and exhibit antiarrhythmic activity are described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,719,687. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,900,481, 4,071,524 and 4,097,481 describe antiarrhythmic agents including, inter alia, N-(piperidylmethyl)benzamides substituted by one or more 1,1-dihydroperfluoroalkoxy groups. Above-mentioned U.S. Pat. No. 3,900,481 discloses the compound 2,5-bis(2,2,2-trifluoroethoxy)-N-(2-piperidylmethyl)benzamide, a particularly useful antiarrhythmic agent also known as flecainide. An article appearing in the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 20, 821 (1977) discloses many of the compounds of the patents and also discloses various additional compounds such as 2-(2,2,2-trifluoroethoxy)-N-(2-piperidylmethyl)benzamides in which the aromatic ring is substituted in the 5-position by a non-functional group, i.e., methyl, chloro or fluoro.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,339,587 discloses 5-hydroxy-2-(2,2,2-trifluoroethoxy)-N-(2-piperidylmethyl)-benzamide and synthetic intermediates useful in the synthesis thereof. This compound is a metabolite of flecainide and is useful as an intermediate in the synthesis of flecainide and as an antiarrhythmic agent itself.